24 Oct 2003 | Matthew Oliphant said...

On a related note, everyone here has seen this.

Tester: Can you describe how you think you did on the tasks?

Participant: I think this will really help us in the field. I was a little confused at first, but it looks a lot different than what I am used to. I think the time savings alone will be worth the change to this new app.

Reality: Zero out of eight usability scenarios completed successfully.

24 Oct 2003 | Thumper said...

This is like the theory of efficient, rational markets. If enough people are doing it, it must be OK.

In this case, someone else must have taken the time and read through the agreement. If there is anything egregiously bad for consumers, it was surely fixed by one of the other thousands of customers reviewing the document.

24 Oct 2003 | said...

You aint my dad!

24 Oct 2003 | Tim said...

I'm always curious what those television ads have in their small print...i'm thinking of those DiTech-eque Loan/Mortgage/Debt Consolidation/Credit Card ads that flash a half-screen of 10-point blurry white text at you for about half a second.

I assume that television ads are legally bound to provide this information...but providing it in such an inhumanly short period of time...can that be any better than not including it all?

24 Oct 2003 | MrAnonymous said...

When we sign, we don't state that we have read and agree, we state that we agree that we're screwed if something happens that's covered in the contract.

26 Oct 2003 | rkinla said...

Actually, I try to read most everything I sign, even more so if it is a company that is not nationally known.

However, here's the kicker. Even if you read and don't agree with something, say a line in a car rental agreement, try changing it and see if they still let you rent that car.

As such, I read to know exactly what I'm getting into. For example, is there an penalty for paying something off early, don't trust a salesman to tell you the truth. It will state in the contract that oral alterations are not binding. The salesman doesn't care, they want the sale.

Buyer be aware

26 Oct 2003 | Brad Pineau said...

I totally agree - no one ever reads the fine print.. I guess we just put too much trust in these businesses.

27 Oct 2003 | Michael Spina said...

I actually do make an attempt to read contracts like that, but I just skim them over and look for anything obvious. I probably either would easily miss something important, or just not understand the all-caps legal speak.

27 Oct 2003 | Salem M. Katsh said...

Can anyone provide the screw sizes--legnth and head type for the PB G4 12 inch 867 (aluminum). I have the widths. Thanks

27 Oct 2003 | One of several Steves said...

Now, if anyone said that they read software license agreements, than we'd really know they're lying.

I try to skim stuff most of the time. My lease, I read pretty thoroughly. Online stuff, I never read. I'll skim privacy policies if I'm giving my email address, address, phone, etc. I've never read a software license in my life.

28 Nov 2003 | Mike Oneil said...

When I bought my new car it was a really tough to decide where to get information and where to buy the car online. I wanted to buy it online, because I think car dealerships put too much pressure on buyers. I decided to try out a few different sites. First I tried buying a cars or SUV at Automotive.com because a friend has told me about them. I also compared them to Kelly Blue Book, CarsDirect, and some other sites. KBB had some great info, but so did Automotive.com and CarsDirect. Automotive.com had great car reviews and the free car prices were really helpful. CarsDirect was also helpful, but I found the site annoying to use. I ended up buying a new Lexus SUV from Automotive.com.